box

noun

1. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “A terrible voice in the hall cried, "Bring down Master Scrooge's box, there!" and in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.”

   “The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.”

2. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “a box of books”

   “He brought me also a Box of Sugar, a Box of Flour, a Bag full of Lemons, and two Bottles of Lime-juice, and abundance of other Things: […]”

3. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
4. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “post box  post office box”

   “She'd picked up the high-tech phone from a post office box in Toronto a month ago. The key to that box had been mailed to a post office box in New York City. The Russians loved their cloak-and-dagger, particularly former KGB and Spetsnaz, Soviet special forces who ran the mafia, […]”

5. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “Add five words for address if replies are to come to a box number address at any of our offices. These replies are forwarded each day as received, in new envelopes at no extra charge. […] When replying to blind ads be careful to put on your envelope the correct box number and do not enclose original letters of recommendation—send copies.”

6. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “One night he proposed a champagne supper, to which, he said he had invited a friend of his. I consented without hesitation, and soon after we proceeded to an eating house and seating ourselves in a private box, ordered supper.”

7. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “Next in importance to the Dvornik comes the coachman of a Russian household. He is usually chosen for his fatness and the length of his beard. These seem curious reasons for choosing a coachman in a country where coach-boxes are smaller than anywhere else in the world; but whereas the average breadth of a Russian coach-box is scarcely more than twelve inches at the outside, the average breadth of a Russian coachman is a very different affair.”

8. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “sentry-box”

   “[M]y uncle Toby […] treated himſelf with a handſome ſentry-box, to ſtand at the corner of the bowling-green, betwixt which point and the foot of the glacis, there was left a little kind of eſplanade for him and the corporal to confer and hold councils of war upon. / —The ſentry-box was in caſe of rain.”

9. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

   “He was a fine-looking middle-aged man, and his voice said at once that he expected to be obeyed. He was very friendly and polite to John, and after giving us a slight look, he called a groom to take us to our boxes, and invited John to take some refreshment.”

10. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “They were capable of climbing most hills in second low but for this exercise we decided to go for the bottom of the box, just to be sure.”

11. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “Thinkin' like Roddy, got a stick in the box (Roddy) Hide in another car, we just blickin' the opps (Bah)”

12. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “Sparks from the derailed bogie of the train were first noticed by the signalman at Slough West box, who immediately sent to Slough Middle box the "Stop and Examine" signal, followed at once by "Obstruction Danger" when he realised that the coach was derailed.”

13. (figuratively)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “I’m really in a box now.”

    “He was going straight for the jugular. "Joe, this didn't make me afraid. I've done rescues before." / "Then you'll have no problem saying yes." / Her eyes narrowed. He was putting her in a box and doing it deliberately. There were times when his kind of leadership made her cringe.”

14. (slang)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
15. (slang)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “I am in what you call 'the box' confined to a 'special' housing unit for punishment because I stabbed some guys who call they self godly and are always beaten up on gays and she males because they hate homosexuals.”

    “He is fearless and contemptuous, apparently able to withstand any discipline—including nights “in the box” […]”

    “He had been in disciplinary confinement (“the box”)—punishment reserved for serious prison offenses—for 14 months.”

    “[…] he explained, “you can go to the box. So, I got a ticket for refusing an order and I went to the box in that situation. […]”

16. (euphemistic)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “Prior to the explosion we spoke about what would happen if he [Lance-Corporal James Simpson] died and came back in a box and what music he would want at his funeral.”

17. (slang)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “Mr. Wormwood switched on the television. The screen lit up. The programme blared. Mr Wormwood glared at Matilda. She hadn't moved. She had somehow trained herself by now to block her ears to the ghastly sound of the dreaded box. She kept right on reading, and for some reason this infuriated the father.”

18. (slang, vulgar)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “Without warning, he withdrew his finger and drove his tongue inside her creamy, hot box. She gave a sharp intake of breath.”

19. (slang)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “a UNIX box”

    “i can't seem to find any how-to regarding connecting a terminal to a linux boxen via parallel port …”

    “Furthermore, it is necessary that all four Linux boxen have the same development environment […]”

20. (slang)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “Joshua Newman, until last month a co-owner of CrossFit NYC, which says it is the world's largest box, recalled a member in the gym's early days who was nicknamed "Welcoming Committee."”

    “Ter Kuile says people will sometimes bring their kids to their CrossFit "box," which is CrossFit for "gym."”

    “Even CrossFitters disagree on how to read the clowns; some box owners join outsider critics in condemning them as dangerous and distance themselves from boxes that still display them.”

    “This is really sad, but I'd go to this amazing CrossFit box called Tio with barbells outside on the edge of a park so you can enjoy the sunshine. I'd go with friends, we'd play loud music, lift weights and get tanned.”

21. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
22. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
23. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
24. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “In electric fencing, foil and saber fencers wear lames, which are thin outer jackets that cover their target areas. Lames are made from fabric that conducts electricity. When a fencer touches an opponent's lame with his or her blade, an electronic signal is sent to the scoring box. A colored light goes on to signal a touch. […] In épée, the whole body is the target, so épée fencers do not need to wear lames. A signal is sent to the scoring box from the épée any time a touch is made.”

25. (dated)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    ““I dare say the sheriff, or the mayor and corporation, or some of those sort of people, would give him money enough, for the use of it, to run him up a mighty pretty neat little box somewhere near Richmond.””

    “Suburban villas, highway-ſide retreats, / That dread th' encroachment of our growing ſtreets, / Tight boxes, neatly ſaſh'd, and in a blaze / With all a July ſun's collected rays, / Delight the citizen, who gaſping there, / Breathes clouds of duſt and calls it country air.”

    “What can a man know of a country or its people, who, merely passes through the former in a stage coach? […] Such were the arguments by which I induced myself to undertake a pedestrian trip to join my friend at his shooting-box, some hundred and fifty miles from Carlisle, where I had arrived from London; business compelling me to take that route.”

26. (Southern-US, colloquial)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.

    “So Tea Cake took the guitar and played himself. He was glad of the chance because he hadn't had his hand on a box since he put his in the pawn shop to get some money to hire a car for Janie soon after he met her.”

27. (Ireland, UK, abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial)Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
28. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space

    “Place a tick in the box.”

    “This text would stand out better if we put it in a coloured box.”

    “[G]raphic novelists must think "inside the box" in some significant ways. Like comic books, each page of a graphic novel usually displays from one to nine outlined boxes with pictures and words that tell a story. Another tradition places the descriptions of events or scenes in smaller rectangles set within panels. These rectangles are called narrative boxes. […] Use narrative boxes with words such as "Far away" or "Meanwhile" to tell readers when you are moving the action somewhere else.”

29. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
30. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space

    “Similar considerations apply in the case of tRNA genes, where the internal promoter is split into two functional domains (box A and box B) which must be a minimum distance apart[…]. The first 11 bp of the internal control region in the Xenopus 5S gene are structurally and functionally homologous to the box A element of tRNA gene promoters, […]”

31. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space

    “Your hands rest on the bottom plane of the box, relaxed and open; forearms are parallel with the ground and elbows close to your body. Balls thrown from your right hand are aimed at the point to the left of center of the top of the box. When you hit this point the ball will land in your left hand. Balls thrown from your left hand are aimed at the point to the right of center of the top of the box.”

32. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal)Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space

    “[page 12] Field players wear shoes with short spikes, called cleats, on the soles. Box players wear court shoes, which have grooved rubber soles. […] [page 30] Field goalies have larger nets to protect than goalies in box lacrosse have. Box goalies wear more pads.”

33. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space

    “Poised link-up play between [Michael] Essien and [Frank] Lampard set the Ghanaian midfielder free soon after but his left-footed shot from outside the box was too weak.”

34. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
35. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space

    ““Okay Lewis, so box this lap, box, box””

    “When a driver is told to 'box, box', they're being instructed to make a pitstop. This is because 'box' sounds more distinct than 'pit' over the team radio, so there's less chance of confusion leading to an error. The word itself refers to the painted box outside a team's garage where pit stops take place, although some argue that it hails from 'boxenstopp', which is German for 'pit stop'.”

36. (broadly)A rectangular object in any number of dimensions.
37. Any of various evergreen shrubs or trees of genus Buxus, especially common box, European box, or boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) which is often used for making hedges and topiary.

    “And no maruell. For, the leaues of Boxe be deletorious, poiſonous, deadlie, and to the bodie of man very noiſome, dangerous and peſtilent[…]”

    “He strayed down a walk edged with box; with apple trees, pear trees, and cherry trees on one side, and a border on the other, full of all sorts of old-fashioned flowers, stocks, sweet-williams, primroses, pansies, mingled with southernwood, sweet-briar, and various fragrant herbs.”

    “"Box makes a statement without having to do much: just trim twice a year and keep it weeded. It's a bit of a lazy gardener's plant." This, no doubt, is what makes box so popular with show home developers and city dwellers – there is scarce a balcony or front door anywhere that cannot be improved by a box ball in a pot.”

38. The wood from a box tree: boxwood.

    “Nevertheless, the application of woods other than box for purposes for which that wood is now used would tend to lessen the demand for box, and thus might have an effect in lowering its price.”

39. (slang)A musical instrument, especially one made from boxwood.

    “Evenin’, folks. Thought y’all might lak uh lil music this evenin’ so Ah brought long mah box.”

40. (Australia)An evergreen tree of the genus Lophostemon (for example, box scrub, Brisbane box, brush box, pink box, or Queensland box, Lophostemon confertus).
41. (Australia)Various species of Eucalyptus trees are popularly called various kinds of boxes, on the basis of the nature of their wood, bark, or appearance for example, drooping box (Eucalyptus bicolor), shiny-leaved box (Eucalyptus tereticornis), black box, or ironbark box trees.

    “The name "Black Box" seems to be most generally in use for this species, Eucalyptus boormani; the even better name of "Ironbark Box" (which certainly indicates its affinities) is nearly as frequently in use.”

42. A blow with the fist.

    “That he hath a neighbourly charitie in him, for he borrowed a boxe of the eare of the Engliſhman, and ſwore he would pay him againe when hee was able : I thinke the Frenchman became his ſuretie, and ſeald vnder for another.”

    “And then he whispered something to the girl which made her laugh, and give him a good-humoured box on the ear.”

    “"Now, you are a nice young fellow, ain't you?" said Sowerberry, giving Oliver a shake and a box on the ear.”

43. (dated)A Mediterranean food fish of the genus Boops, which is a variety of sea bream; a bogue or oxeye.

    “BOX. Box (Boops), […] In both jaws a single anterior series of broad incisors, notched at the cutting margin; no molars.”

    “The Bogue. […] Box or Boops. Generic Character.—Body elongated, rounded, the dorsal and ventral profiles alike, and the general aspect peculiarly trim.”

    “BOGUE. BOX. OXEYE. […] In some parts of the European side of the Mediterranean the Bogue is a common fish, and where it frequents it is in great abundance.”

verb

1. (transitive)To place inside a box; to pack in one or more boxes.

   “Scrapbooks that have enduring value in their original form should be individually boxed in custom-fitted boxes.”

   “"I best get busy and box up these bones," she said, suddenly anxious to get moving. […] As she started to step around the grave washed out by last night's rainstorm, the sun caught on something caught in the mud.”

2. (transitive)Usually followed by in: to surround and enclose in a way that restricts movement; to corner, to hem in.

   “A large majority of children seem to delight in emotionally boxing in their parents—setting the double-bind trap by giving the parent two choices but determining ahead of time that neither choice will be sufficient for their satisfaction.”

3. (transitive)To mix two containers of paint of similar colour to ensure that the color is identical.

   “Straining eliminates lumps in the paint. If the paint has separated, stir the thick paint up from the bottom of each can to free as many lumps as possible. Then box the paint, pouring it all together through a nylon paint strainer and into the bucket. Paint less than one year old usually doesn't require straining. Older paint might have a thick skin on the top; remove the skin and set it aside. Box the paint, pouring it through a nylon paint strainer into the bucket.”

4. (transitive)To make an incision or hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap.

   “The early settlers either boxed the tree or cut large slanting gashes, from the lower end of which a rudely fashioned spout conducted the sap to a bucket. This method was very destructive to the tree, and boring was substituted for it.”

5. (transitive)To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipes) or to bring to a required form.

   “As early as the 1850s, prisons were being made "safer" by boxing in water pipes and enclosing galleries with netting to prevent jumping.”

6. (transitive)To furnish (for example, the axle of a wheel) with a box.

   “[T]he death of the said deceased Daniel Docherty, while in the defender's employment as an engineman, […] is alleged to have been owing to the engine house, which contained the engine of which the deceased had charge, being of a dangerous and improper construction, and the fly-wheel not having been boxed in or covered: […]”

7. (transitive)To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box.
8. (transitive)To place a value of a primitive type into a casing object.
9. To enter the pit.

   ““Okay Lewis, so box this lap, box, box””

10. (transitive)To strike with the fists; to punch.

    “to box someone’s ears”

    “Leave this place before I box you!”

    “Mrs. Reed soon rallied her spirits: she shook me most soundly, she boxed both my ears, and then left me without a word.”

11. (transitive)To fight against (a person) in a boxing match.
12. (intransitive, stative)To participate in boxing; to be a boxer.

name

1. A surname.

   “The 10-inch increase forecast in the new study, which does not give a timeline, could be much higher if temperatures continue to rise, as they almost certainly will, said Jason Box, a glaciologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland who was the paper’s lead author.”

2. A village in Minchinhampton parish, south of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England (OS grid ref SO8600).
3. A village and civil parish near Corsham, Wiltshire, England (OS grid ref ST8268).